I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to munitions and, more particularly, to a projectile which is steerable after launch.
II. Description of Relevant Art
There are many previously known projectiles used in military applications in which a warhead is coaxially mounted to an ogive and launched through a gun tube. In many cases, the gun tube is rifled so that the projectile spins around its longitudinal axis as the projectile exits the gun tube. Such a spin stabilizes the projectile to minimize, or altogether eliminate, tumbling of the projectile after launch.
Some of these previously known projectiles, such as the projectiles launched from large bore gun tubes, may travel over a range of 10 miles or more. Many smart projectiles, projectiles that either have the ability to change their trajectory utilize fins to maneuver. These fins are often supercaliber meaning that the fins span a diameter greater than the bore diameter of the gun the projectile was shot from. These supercaliber fins are therefore required to be stowed in a subcaliber configuration during gun launch and are deployed sometime after exiting the gun. The deployment of the supercaliber fins requires additional hardware, complexity, and cost.